Adventures and experiences on the campaign for Renaissance

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What am I about…? & Who Am I?

In one word, Success. Had to pick that word, cliche as it is, and with all the ambiguity. Success is, or at least should be, a unique word for everybody who reads it. However, this is often far from what the collective of humanity thinks when they read, hear, or ponder this word. It’s so much more then the material things in life. Please define what it means to you. Actually not the easiest thing to do, and it’s taken me a long time, but I want to share what it is for me, and why I push for it day in and day out. My definition may be far from yours, it may contain parts of yours. But, I hope seeing someones personal definition of success and the perpetual quest that it is will help you define yours, and hopefully charge up some inspired action somewhere in the world. Those are the places I eventually want to reach–the reasons you should read or care about any content here.

Who am I?

To share a little about myself I’ll start with my name–Brendan. I’m 24 years old at the time of publication and residing in America, specifically Texas. But, don’t jump to conclusions, I am a dual citizen and my mother country is Canada. I think this is a great blessing, and the first I’ll mention about how lucky I am. I’ve got crazy good luck! Listing hobbies and passions has a pre-requisite; namely that I explain what I want to be in life, and where the name of this blog arose. Allow me to illustrate where this all began:

At a young age, perhaps 12, but maybe 14, I was often asked what I wanted to do with my life. I could never answer in a way that was fully truthful or left me feeling satisfied with my response. What adolescent could? They’re rare but they’re out there. But, I think it’s not often clear if those answers are really their own or some conglomerate of parental pressures and societal conventions. Either way nothing I ever said was fully the true expression of what I subconsciously felt was my calling. That’s because I don’t have just one thing calling me; really I want to be and do as much as possible, and as much that’s impossible as possible. In these young years I was asked a very valuable question by my mother: “Brendan, do you know what a Renaissance Man is?” I responded with the characteristic false omniscience of youth, “Of course I do. It’s someone who lived in the Renaissance period.” I was indeed misinformed, or rather under-informed. My mother went on to essentially summarize the definition as “A Master of many things.”

It didn’t stick right then, but as I grew older I knew this was the only “calling” calling me. That’s partly why success has been a real illusive and challenging word to define in my life. I want to succeed in so many things, and this overall mastery is the most simplified definition of my personal success in life.